Transfigurations

Welcome to Transfigurations! This blog is intended to serve the orthodox Anglican community and the wider Christian community. We pray that all that is posted here will be faithful to the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, speak the truth in love, edify, bless and transform this local body of Christ, and be an impetus for revival, repentance, prayer and intercession!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Awestruck...

I am awestruck by the early autumn beauty…Shimmering day, Clouds edged in glory, Bright blue sky,Leaves trembling, knowing their time is short-

Soon they will be released to the wind. Faint glimpses of the eternal strike chords in my heart.I can only take it in and revel in the Author of it all,Knowing creation’s impossible existence withoutA nascent Hand, A Word spokenAnd Breath to quicken and animate.

September 23, 2013Excerpt:At the “diversity” training yesterday, though, even this fig leaf of apoliticism was discarded. In an utterly unprofessional way, the overriding presumption of the session was that the people whom the History Department has chosen to employ as teaching assistants are probably racists. In true “diversity” style, the language in which the presentation was couched was marbled with words like “inclusive”, “respect”, and “justice”. But the tone was unmistakably accusatory and radical. Our facilitator spoke openly of politicizing her classrooms in order to right (take revenge for?) past wrongs. We opened the session with chapter-and-verse quotes from diversity theorists who rehearsed the same tired “power and privilege” cant that so dominates seminar readings and official university hand-wringing over unmet race quotas. Indeed, one mild-mannered Korean woman yesterday felt compelled to insist that she wasn’t a racist. I never imagined that she was, but the atmosphere of the meeting had been so poisoned that even we traditional quarries of the diversity Furies were forced to share our collective guilt with those from continents far across the wine-dark sea.It is hardly surprising that any of us hectorees would feel thusly. For example, in one of the handouts that our facilitator asked us to read (“Detour-Spotting: for white anti-racists,” by joan olsson [sic]), we learned things like, “As white infants we were fed a pabulum of racist propaganda,” “…there was no escaping the daily racist propaganda,” and, perhaps most even-handed of all, “Racism continues in the name of all white people.” Perhaps the Korean woman did not read carefully enough to realize that only white people (all of them, in fact) are racist. Nevertheless, in a manner stunningly redolent of “self-criticism” during the Cultural Revolution in communist China, the implication of the entire session was that everyone was suspect, and everyone had some explaining to do.

You have always been very kind to me, Prof. Kantrowitz, so it pains me to ask you this, but is this really what the History Department thinks of me? Is this what you think of me? I am not sure who selected the readings or crafted the itinerary for the diversity session, but, as they must have done so with the full sanction of the History Department, one can only conclude that the Department agrees with such wild accusations, and supports them. Am I to understand that this is how the white people who work in this Department are viewed? If so, I cannot help but wonder why in the world the Department hired any of us in the first place. Would not anyone be better? the rest-Don't miss!

Please allow me to be quite frank. My job, which I love, is to teach students Japanese history. This week, for example, I have been busy explaining the intricacies of the Genpei War (1180-1185), during which time Japan underwent a transition from an earlier, imperial-rule system under regents and cloistered emperors to a medieval, feudal system run by warriors and estate managers. It is an honor and a great joy to teach students the history of Japan. I take my job very seriously, and I look forward to coming to work each day.It is most certainly not my job, though, to cheer along anyone, student or otherwise, in their psychological confusion. I am not in graduate school to learn how to encourage poor souls in their sexual experimentation, nor am I receiving generous stipends of taxpayer monies from the good people of the Great State of Wisconsin to play along with fantasies or accommodate public cross-dressing. To all and sundry alike I explicate, as best I can, such things as the clash between the Taira and the Minamoto, the rise of the Kamakura shogunate, and the decline of the imperial house in twelfth-century Japan. Everyone is welcome in my classroom, but, whether directly or indirectly, I will not implicate myself in my students’ fetishes, whatever those might be. What they do on their own time is their business; I will not be a party to it. I am exercising my right here to say, “Enough is enough.” One grows used to being thought a snarling racist–after all, others’ opinions are not my affair–but one draws the line at assisting students in their private proclivities. That is a bridge too far, and one that I, at least, will not cross.

On August 25, 2010, the FBI and the United States Department of Justice co-sponsored a training seminar with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority Foundation.

When information about the seminar, which took place at FBI headquarters in Portland, Oregon, reached pro-life advocates, they asked officials for permission to attend and were granted access to the seminar and the training materials.

A Word for Us All-What does Jesus want to say to your church?
...That all depends: what is your church like? Where are you strong? Where are you weak? We live in a big country with hundreds of thousands of churches. If you think the issue out there is too much law, you’d be right. If you think the issue is cheap grace, you’d be right about that too. Jesus wouldn’t say just one thing to the church in this country–let alone in the West or in the world–because the church in this country is diffuse and diverse...

“If you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have,” Obama said.

But as Obamacare’s rollout approaches, we have learned this is not true. Here are the ten states where consumers may like their health care plans, but they won’t be able to keep them...

"They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. It was so terrible," one surviving student, who would only give his first name of Idris, told Reuters...

“We didn’t pick the fight,” Green explained. “We never imagined we’d sue our own government. We love our country. But the mandate requires us to become abortion providers, which goes against our conscience.”

Green said his firm would “not provide abortive drugs for free and won’t prevent employees from accessing those drugs.”

As the lawsuit heads toward the U.S. Supreme Court, he said his firm is not slowing and is opening 37 new stores this year, hoping to open 70 next year...

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Adirondacks Autumn 2013

September 28, 2013Raymond and I took a short trip to the Adirondacks Friday and Saturday. The leaves were at peak in the High Peaks/Lake Placid area. Below, I posted a few photos with my cell phone, but I am waiting for Raymond's pictures which will come as he processes them.

Raymond and Pat on Little Whiteface (Raymond's pic)

﻿

Lake Placid as seen from Little Whiteface﻿

Raymond getting ready to shoot

(Whiteface in the background)

﻿

Taking a picture with my cellphone out the car window-I didn't know my hand was reflected in the mirror till later.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Overshadowed...

Should pain and suffering, sorrow, and grief, rise up like clouds and overshadow for a time the Sun of Righteousness and hide Him from your view, do not be dismayed, for in the end this cloud of woe will descend in showers of blessing on your head, and the Sun of Righteousness rise upon you to set no more for ever. ...Sadhu Sundar Singhimage

Daddy and Daughter Sings the Most Darling Duet Ever

Christians are being deliberately attacked because of their faith across parts
of the Muslim world and even martyred for their faith in large numbers, the
Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.
By John Bingham
25 Sep 2013

The Most Rev Justin Welby said that there had been more than 80 Christian “martyrs” in the last few days alone.

He was speaking about the bombing of All Saints Anglican church in Peshawar, Pakistan, in which 85 were killed and more than 200 injured.

But he said that Christians were also being singled out for violence in a string of other countries. the rest

Scrolling around...September 26, 2013

Why We Need Small Towns-And how they correct the supersized spirituality of evangelicals
...Of course, American Christians know something of the little way. The evangelical movement has always had its share of what novelist Wallace Stegner famously called "stickers." In the words of Wendell Berry, a student of Stegner's, stickers are people who "settle, and love the life they have made and the place they have made it in." America's first great theologian, Jonathan Edwards, spent much of his life serving in a single small parish. Presbyterian theologian B. B. Warfield spent nearly his entire adult life in Princeton, New Jersey, where he taught at the university and cared for his sick wife. The late Dallas Willard taught and ministered in the same philosophy department for nearly five decades. Just recently, my pastor interviewed a dozen fellow pastors who have served in Lincoln, Nebraska, for over a decade. All of them are committed to staying at their churches indefinitely...

"We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government's program to provide access to abortion-inducing drugs,” Sister Loraine Marie said of a class-action lawsuit filed against the mandate on behalf of multiple religious organizations that provide health benefits...

The court ruled that Autocam Corporation, which is a family-owned business, must comply with the mandate requiring companies to pay for contraception and abortion procedures.

John Kennedy, one of Autocam's owners, said the mandate violates their convictions. But the judge disagreed, saying it neither violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act nor the family's convictions.

"We dismiss the claims of the individual plaintiffs on standing grounds," Judge Julia Smith Gibbons wrote. She added that the decision to comply with the mandate will be up to the company, not the Kennedys, who own it...

Frightening new assault on homeschooling
...The Obama administration has argued in court that parents essentially have no right to determine how and what their children are taught, leaving the authority with the government.

Farris said although the cases have been in Germany, others should be concerned.

“I want the American homeschool community and other friends of liberty to take note – this mindset isn’t limited to Germany. Many U.S. policymakers and academics agree. … They are even working to see them realized here. So far, thankfully, homeschooling isn’t a legitimate reason (anymore) for the government to kidnap your children if they don’t go to state approved schools,” Farris said.

Donnelly said there are “already too many voices in the United States that want to advance the idea that the state must control education for the safety of the state or other reasons.”...

Si Robertson: Duck Dynasty's favorite uncle talks faith in God, wife, and children
...He previously revealed in an interview with The Christian Post that he signs two Bible verses when people ask him for an autograph. "When I sign people's stuff I put down John 3:16 and 17. Most people can tell you what 16 says, OK. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.' But they don't know nothin' about 17. It says Jesus didn't come to condemn us. If anybody had a right to condemn someone, it would be the son of God. If he didn't do it, then hey, we definitely are not qualified to do it."...

Monday, September 23, 2013

We often think of great faith...

We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. It is not worrying, but rather trusting and abiding in the peace of God that will crush anything that Satan tries to do to us. If the Lord created the world out of chaos, He can easily deal with any problem that we have. ...Rick Joynerimage

The hours that followed were tense and ultimately extremely gratifying. We would soon learn that Dr. Blackaby had a heart attack and became disoriented. Christians around the world were able to hear through social media of his latest purported location according to his credit card charges. Of course, we were praying that he was the one actually using the credit cards—and he was...Henry Blackaby to Have Surgery after Heart Attack

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices
Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.

When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers...NYT

Obama Administration appeals Hobby Lobby/HHS mandate case to the Supreme Court
...On Wednesday the administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling granting Hobby Lobby an exemption from the mandate, which requires employers to provide co-pay-free coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-causing drugs for all females of childbearing age enrolled in their company’s health plan.

More than 60 company owners have sued the Obama Administration over the directive, arguing that forcing them to pay for procedures and drugs their faiths hold to be immoral violates their constitutionally-protected religious freedom.

In the Hobby Lobby case, the company’s owners sought an exemption from the mandate because it requires coverage for so-called ‘emergency contraception,’ which works at least some of the time by making the uterus inhospitable to an already-fertilized embryo, inducing early abortion – something that goes against the owners’ Christian faith. Initially, a lower court rejected their case, but in July, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned their decision and Hobby Lobby was granted an injunction...

Klusmeyer said the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is following the example of three other Christian organizations -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church, United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church in blessing the unions.

"There will be some [church members] who are elated and some who will be very disappointed," the bishop said.

There are 'parameters' to the church's blessings for gay unions, which are to begin on Dec. 1, at the start of the next Christian calendar, he said. The priest in charge and the congregations of individual churches must decide whether the church will bless the couples. Couples must be baptized and active members of a particular congregation for a minimum of six months...

Abortion Nation
America is only 1 of 4 countries to allow abortions post-viability...

Gafcon leaders to review Nairobi meeting plans

George Conger
posted September 23, 2013

Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney has released a video stating that he and Bishop Martyn Minns will travel to Nairobi this week to review security arrangements for next month's Gafcon conference at All Saints Cathedral.

Dr. Jensen said it was his "desire" not to relocate the gathering of over 1000 delegates from across the Communion to another country, as he believed it was important for overseas Christians to stand in solidarity with their "Kenyan brothers and sisters" in the face of attacks by Muslim terrorists. The archbishop noted that New York, London and other major cities had been victims of terrorism in recent years, and "we will look into the arrangements already put in place" for the Nairobi gathering. Security was an issue at the 2008 Gafcon meeting in Jerusalem, he said, adding that he would report back to participants shortly. Anglican Ink

A.S. Haley: Federal Court in Fort Worth Closes Two Lawsuits

Fiday, September 20, 2013

Excerpt:
What your Curmudgeon finds remarkable
in these recent developments in the litigation over withdrawing dioceses is that
there are still some Episcopalians who believe that, just because they
think there ought to be an implied rule against unilateral withdrawal,
the courts must enforce it anyway, just on ECUSA's say-so. Those days are over.
ECUSA has shown, when push comes to shove on its claims, that it has zero
evidence of any such rule ever having been enforced in its 225-year
history.

And even if it could now make up such a rule, and get it passed
by General Convention, the courts would be prevented from enforcing it by the
developments in First Amendment jurisprudence that have occurred in the last
seventy-five years. A diocese, incorporated or not, has the same rights under
the First Amendment as any single individual does. And those rights include the
ability to associate with whomever the person chooses to associate, regardless
of what some group may claim to the contrary.

Making up "rules" after the
fact has been a specialty of the current regime at 815. ("Oh, we've always done
it that way." "Well, we don't need to follow the Canons in this particular
instance, because we like the result we can get by not following them.") That
may be the way for Calvin and Hobbes to run
their exclusive club, but it is not the way to run a church governed by a
Constitution and Canons. ECUSA is finding that its leaders' lawlessness will
carry it only so far. And it is about time. the rest

Taking
up the Fiddle While Rome Burns
...The Presiding Bishop's job -- and future reputation -- is, in effect, on the
line. She and her personal Chancellor have been so identified with the
litigation agenda of ECUSA (because they run that agenda without interference
from anyone else in the entire Church) that they are taking a hit, so to speak,
on account of the reversals which that agenda has recently suffered in Texas
(Fort Worth), Illinois
(Quincy), South
Carolina, and yes - let it be said -- in San Joaquin (even though there is
as yet no final judgment there, ECUSA faces a decidedly uphill battle to
convince the California court that its canons allow it to take the property of
the withdrawing diocese).

In a (rather desperate, and, some would say)
clumsy attempt to protect her prerogatives on the litigation front, the
Presiding Bishop (and, as always, her personal Chancellor, whose law firm earns
millions each year from the Presiding Bishop's continuing patronage) asked the
"Ecclesiology Committee" to deliver a counter to the "Bishops'
Statement on Polity" promulgated by the Anglican Communion Institute and the
Communion Partner Bishops within ECUSA. (Note that Bishop Martins is a Communion
Partner bishop, who signed the 2009 Statement on Polity, and who -- along with
six other bishops and three priests -- faced
disciplinary proceedings for having the temerity to repeat what it said to
the courts in Illinois and Texas.)...

Friday, September 20, 2013

Even in terrible circumstances and calamities...

Even in terrible circumstances and calamities, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically. I know that holiness is near. ...Kathleen Norrisimage

Update: So. Baptist Leader Henry Blackaby has been found...

posted September 20, 2013 at 10:00pm

*Update: The Blackaby family would like everyone to know that Henry has been found and is safe. His health concerns are being addressed and we will keep everyone posted with the news. We wish to express to everyone our appreciation and gratitude for the prayers and concern over the last 29 hours. Henry has taught us that we can experience God in the good and the bad times. We thank God that we have experienced his grace, peace, and faithfulness in these times.Here

Tweet from his son Mel: We are rejoicing tonight. That have just found Dad. Checking him over physically. Traumatic 28 hrs. Thanks for prayers! Family of God!— Mel Blackaby (@melblackaby) September 20, 2013

Praise and thanksgiving!

Psalm 46:1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.Psalm 34:7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,and he delivers them.Philippians 4:6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.Psalm 61:1-4Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

Scrolling around...September 20, 2013

Typhoon Usagi is the Pacific's strongest storm on record this year, with wind gusts measured of up to 240 kilometers per hour.

It is expected to strengthen further as it moves toward the northern Philippines and then Taiwan before weakening and hitting China's southern coast.

The Philippines evacuated some northern coastal villages and called in fishing boats ahead of the storm's expected arrival late Friday...

Urgent prayer need for Henry Blackaby
The Blackaby family requests your prayers for Dr. Henry Blackaby in the midst of difficult circumstances at this moment. Henry has been missing since 4:00pm yesterday (Thursday) in the South Atlanta area. He was driving a black Lincoln sedan. Please pray for him to be found and if you are in the Atlanta area, please be on the lookout for Henry or his car along the roadside. Please check the BMI Home page for updates. Thank you for your partnership in prayer!

In 1989, the median American household made $51,681 in current dollars (the 2012 number, again, was $51,017). That means that 24 years ago, a middle class American family was making more than the a middle class family was making one year ago.

This isn't a lost decade for economic gains for Americans. It is a lost generation.

Living as a Prophetic Minority
...Looking to the future, Moore proposed that orthodox Christians be diverse in outreach but not in message. The mission of the church is to enable people “to hear the voice of Jesus Christ.” Because of his death and resurrection, “Jesus welcomes the world to reconciliation through him.” While kindness in Scripture is not weakness, we are not to regard people who disagree with us as our enemies, rather they may be future Christians. “The power of the gospel is found in the freakishness of the gospel,” Moore said. “As the Moral Majority goes away, we have the power to be a prophetic minority.”

As a prophetic minority, do not need a gospel which essentially accepts the prevailing American values of self-fulfillment. “Your Best Life Now” has not been translated into Sudanese, Moore said. Offering instead an uncompromising message of Biblical faith and morals will make Christians a prophetic minority with a real reason for being, Moore suggested, but it will entail penalties because religious liberty, while good for the country, is rapidly disappearing. Natural marriage, to which even President Obama maintained a favorable position until one and a half years ago, is now regarded as an unacceptable standard by the new morality of inclusion. Christians, however, need to move from the fear-based model of the past. We should not be “trying to raise money from paranoid senior adults.” We should be trying to engage the culture as a “remnant in time, but with a transcendent connection.” In general, Moore staked out a hard, discernibly orthodox, but optimistic road into the future for the heirs of the Moral Majority, the new “prophetic minority.”

A.S. Haley: As Long as There Are Lawyers Who Will Take its Money

September 19, 2013

It is sad, but true: a person with money to spend can always find a lawyer willing to take his money -- and ECUSA is no exception. ECUSA lost its cases in Fort Worth, Quincy and South Carolina, and now is paying attorneys to ask the courts in Fort Worth and South Carolina to "reconsider" their decisions. (There is no judgment entered yet in the Quincy case, and until there is, there will not be anything to ask the court there to reconsider.)

ECUSA obtained an extension of time until October 18 within which to file a "petition for rehearing" with the Texas Supreme Court in the Fort Worth case. (The Diocese of Northwest Texas did likewise, in the Masterson case.) Their papers are not on file yet, so we cannot discern the reasons they will give to the Court for reversing its decisions.

But in South Carolina, the motion to Federal Senior District Judge C. Weston Houck, asking him reconsider his earlier dismissal of Bishop vonRosenberg's trademark infringement suit, and filed on the latter's behalf by ECUSA's attorneys, is available for your reading enjoyment. Essentially the motion challenges two technical aspects of Judge Houck'searlier ruling, and suggests that had he followed the proper precedents, he would have retained jurisdiction of the suit, rather than dismiss it.

The reasons given for reconsideration might sound plausible on their face to a layperson, but they are nonsense to one experienced in litigation. In the first place, most judges would rather undergo a root canal treatment than admit that they got anything wrong, and change a decision once made. But in the second place, in this case Judge Houck got it right the first time. the rest

Trying the Quincy Case (I): ECUSA's Expert under Fire
Now that the Quincy decision has been published, I shall use the next few weeks
to publish selected excerpts from the testimony at the trial. In light of the
efforts by ECUSA to advance -- in all of its litigated cases thus far -- a
particular theory of its polity as "three-tiered" (from General Convention to
the Dioceses to the individual parishes), with the claim that the structure is
"hierarchical", I want to begin with the close examination of that claim made at
the Quincy trial, which resulted in Judge Ortbal's careful and measured findings
that I analyzed here....

The real Navy Yard scandal

So here is this panic-stricken soul, psychotic and in terrible distress. And what does modern policing do for him? The cops tell him to “stay away from the individuals that are following him.” Then they leave.

But the three “individuals” were imaginary, for God’s sake. This is how a civilized society deals with a man in such a state of terror?

Had this happened 35 years ago in Boston, Alexis would have been brought to me as the psychiatrist on duty at the emergency room of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Were he as agitated and distressed as in the police report, I probably would have administered an immediate dose of Haldol, the most powerful fast-acting antipsychotic of the time.

This would generally have relieved the hallucinations and delusions, a blessing not only in itself, but also for the lucidity brought on that would have allowed him to give us important diagnostic details — psychiatric history, family history, social history, medical history, etc. If I had thought he could be sufficiently cared for by family or friends to receive regular oral medication, therapy and follow-up, I would have discharged him. Otherwise, I’d have admitted him. And if he refused, I’d have ordered a 14-day involuntary commitment.

Sounds cruel? On the contrary. For many people living on park benches, commitment means a warm bed, shelter and three hot meals a day. For Alexis, it would have meant the beginning of a treatment regimen designed to bring him back to himself before discharging him to a world heretofore madly radioactive.

That’s what a compassionate society does. It would no more abandon this man to fend for himself than it would a man suffering a stroke. And as a side effect, that compassion might even extend to potential victims of his psychosis — in the event, remote but real, that he might someday burst into some place of work and kill 12 innocent people. the rest-Excellent!image

(Raymond practices in the area of psychiatric legal matters and is a guardian for several veterans. He describes it this way: " This area of the law is quite literally insane. Our rights-oriented approach toward mentally ill people allows them to wander around, harm themselves and others, and destroy both families and strangers around them. This was just one example of that [Navy Yard] but there are a thousand smaller examples that I have seen. I hope the Liberals who have such a rights notion of mentally ill people will take notice that this is the root of the cause, and not AR-15s, shotguns, or any other weapons. Mentally ill people shoot large numbers of people with guns; sane people do not." -PD)

Thursday, September 19, 2013

TEC asks SC court to reconsider ruling

The Bishop of The Episcopal Church in South Carolina has asked the U.S. District Court to reconsider the recent decision to dismiss a federal lawsuit against Mark Lawrence.

Attorneys for the Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg filed a Motion for Reconsideration on September 16 in U.S. District Court in Charleston, along with a Memorandum of Law and other documents supporting the motion. It asks Judge C. Weston Houck to give further consideration to specific facts and legal principles and apply them in reconsidering his August 23 ruling to abstain from and dismiss the case.

The federal lawsuit, vonRosenberg v. Lawrence, was filed in March, seeking to keep Bishop Lawrence from representing himself as the bishop of the diocese and asking the court to find that only Bishop vonRosenberg, as The Episcopal Church’s recognized bishop, should control the name and marks of the diocese.

A separate case in South Carolina Circuit Court is currently proceeding with written discovery. That lawsuit was originally filed in January by former church leaders and some 34 parishes in eastern South Carolina who say they have “disassociated” from The Episcopal Church. It seeks control of the name, seal and properties of the diocese under state law that governs nonprofit corporations. The group continues to call itself “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina,” and recognizes Mark Lawrence as its bishop. the rest

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Preparing for GAFCON 2

By Andrew Symes
September 17th, 2013

More than 100 clergy and laity from the UK will be attending GAFCON 2 in Nairobi at the end of October, and a preparatory meeting was held on Monday 16th September at St Mark’s, Battersea Rise in south London.

Paul Perkin, Vicar of St Marks and on the council of FCA UK, led the meeting, which began with praise and prayer. Paul then opened Matthew 9:35-38 and began by reminding us that “Lord, send out labourers into the harvest field” is a dangerous prayer! This short passage of Scripture shows us the helplessness of the crowd – like unguided sheep – but also the compassion of Jesus who meets the needs of people. We see the abundance of the harvest, but the scarcity of labourers. And then, recognition of the task leads to prayer, which results in action. GAFCON 2 is not a rearguard movement of traditionalists, but a renewal movement for the sake of the Great Commission.

After prayer in groups we watched a short video of GAFCON 2008 in Jerusalem. We were reminded of the remarkable unity among orthodox and evangelical Anglicans from diverse cultures across the world in response to the unilateral redefinition of Anglican faith and order perpetrated by the Episcopal Church of USA. It was unanimously recognized that what was needed was not just protest, but the re-articulation of biblical worldview and vision for mission. Henry Orombi’s reading of the Jerusalem Statement, resulting in a standing ovation, may have been a significant moment in church history.

Back in the present: Eliud Wabakala, Chair of GAFCON Primates Council, had sent a message which was read by Bishop John Ellison. Archbishop Eliud is greatly looking forward to welcoming delegates to fellowship in Nairobi as guests of the Cathedral in Nairobi. The theme of the conference will be the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, reflecting the missionary impulse at the heart of biblical Anglicanism. “We want to address specific problems but also look beyond them, to ask God to bring revival”, he said. The vision is for GAFCON to become a “movement of transformation for the Anglican Communion”; to give firm and stable leadership for the future. The Archbishop ended with acknowledging the difficulty of remaining faithful to the Gospel in UK and Ireland. To the delegates who share the GAFCON vision he said “We honour your faithfulness. We stand with you as you stand with us.” the rest

Scrolling around...September 18, 2013

Albert Mohler: Can Evangelical Chaplains Serve God and Country?—The Crisis Arrives
Can chaplains committed to historic biblical Christianity serve in the United States military? That question, though inconceivable to our nation’s founders, is now front and center. And the answer to that question will answer another, even more important question: Can religious liberty survive under America’s new moral order?

The repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, coupled with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, set the stage for this crisis. The full normalization of same-sex relationships within the U.S. military is part of the unprecedented moral revolution that is now reshaping American culture at virtually every level.

The crisis in the chaplaincy arrived with these developments. The presenting issue is clear: Can a chaplain committed to historic biblical Christianity remain in military service? Does the normalization of homosexuality require that all members of the military, including chaplains, join the moral revolution, even if doing so requires them to abandon their biblical convictions?

The answer, at least from the advocates of the moral revolution, is that evangelical Christian chaplains must go—and Southern Baptist chaplains must go first...

Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., instead will sponsor a troop of the newly formed Trail Life USA, which requires adult leaders to sign a statement of faith and requires both boys and leaders to live by a code of conduct that defines "any sexual activity outside the context of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman" as "sinful" and "inconsistent with the values and principles of the program." Trail Life USA will accept boys who are experiencing same-sex attraction or gender confusion. It will not, however, receive into membership boys that are openly homosexual or transgendered...

A 57-year-old fly fishing guide, Marmon, whose wife is a lawyer, says he doesn’t want or need a church salary. He belongs to a growing breed of mainline Protestant ministers who serve congregations in exchange for little or no compensation...

The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012...

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

No difficulties in your case can baffle him...

He does not need to transplant us into a different field, but right where we are, with just the circumstances that surround us, he makes his sun to shine and his dew to fall upon us, and transforms the very things that were before our greatest hindrances into the chiefest and most blessed means of our growth. No difficulties in your case can baffle him, no dwarfing of your growth in years that are past, no apparent dryness of your inward springs of life, no crookedness or deformity in any of your past development, can in the least mar the perfect work that he will accomplish, if you will only put yourselves absolutely into his hands and let him have his own way with you. ...Hannah Whitall Smith image

Scrolling around...September 17, 2013

Don't Segregate the Youth
...I spent 10 years serving in a church where the youth ministry was segregated from the congregation. The constant challenge before us was to somehow teach and give them a taste of what the church is meant to be, even though they weren't experiencing it themselves. Most of the youth didn't worship with the rest of the congregation, nor did they experience aspects of gathered church life beyond "Youth Sunday."

The next church I served in was vastly different. There I learned how to effectively model and shape a biblical view of the church for the youth. What was so different? To start, students were part of the church. Rather than a token "Youth Sunday," we regularly had students serving as ushers, greeters, choristers, music volunteers, and Scripture readers. Some of our older teens were teaching Sunday school, and when the church gathered for various functions, teens joined in the mix. This was an intergenerational church family where relationships spanned decades and all ages served side by side. Sure, we had youth Bible study groups and other activities specifically for students, but that never precluded their involvement in the gathered church.

Together as the diverse, multi-generational body of Christ, we worshiped God, sat under the preaching of his Word, prayed, shared communion, and enjoyed fellowship. As a result, students weren't left wondering about the church's purpose; they were experiencing it according to Acts 2:42-47. They learned the church exists chiefly to glorify God, not to please them. They experienced what it means for elders to "equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12-13)...

According to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people in the United States develop serious bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more types of antibiotics each year, and at least 23,000 die from the infections.

"For organism after organism, we're seeing this steady increase in resistance rates," Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a telephone interview. "We don't have new drugs about to come out of the pipeline. If and when we get new drugs, unless we do a better job of protecting them, we'll lose those, also."... image

Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide have led to lopsided sex ratios. In parts of India, for example, 126 boys are born for every 100 girls. This in turn leads to a shortage of marriageable women, which then leads to trafficking in persons, bride-selling, and prostitution....

“Not everything in life is for sale, nor should it be,” said Brown in his Aug. 13 statement on the veto of bill A.B. 926. “This bill would legalize the payment of money in exchange for a woman submitting to invasive procedures to stimulate, extract and harvest her eggs for scientific research. The questions raised here are not simple; they touch matters that are both personal and philosophical.”

Brown zeroed in on an increasingly complex aspect of egg sellers' understanding of the implications...

5 ways Obamacare could mess with your privacy
Obamacare’s start date, October 1st, is rapidly approaching. As the impending Tuesday draws nearer and nearer, new headlines are drawing attention to unsettling aspects of the system. Troubling enough was the NSA surveillance scandal this summer. Now, add sensitive medical information to the mix. Concerned citizens are raising privacy questions, from sex life to social security numbers, under the new system. How could your own privacy be affected by Obamacare?...

Taking Baby-Killing to a New Low
...And to think: The same people who pushed so hard for the legalization of abortion so that a woman wouldn’t have to get a back-alley abortion with a wire coat hanger are the same ones who not only ignore the pervasive health code violations in scores of clinics nationwide, but also are taking things one step further by backing a bill whereby non-physicians can suck a baby out of its mother’s womb...

Dr. Prakesh Shah, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is the main author of the new study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

He found that women who have just one abortion in either the first or second trimester of pregnancy, when abortions are most routinely performed, have a 35 percent increased risk of having a low-birth-weight baby in the next pregnancy and a 36 percent increased risk of having a baby born prematurely.

The risk substantially increases for the millions of women who have had more than one abortion and become pregnant.

In those cases, women having multiple abortions have a 93 percent increased risk of subsequently having a premature baby and a 72 percent increased risk of having an underweight baby....

Maaloula is a special place. It has been a safe haven for Christians for 2,000 years - until now. It was a place of refuge so secure in its rugged mountain isolation that a dialect of the language of Christ, Aramaic, is still spoken here. But not today.

Its Christian community of 2,000 has fled. In the tight alleyways and streets that wind up the Maaloula's mountainside their language has been replaced by the Arabic of two bitter enemies: rebels from three Islamist groups and the soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad...

Monday, September 16, 2013

Come, Lord Jesus, and abide in my heart...

Come, Lord Jesus, and abide in my heart. How grateful I am to realize that the answer to my prayer does not depend on me at all. As I quietly abide in You and let Your life flow into me, what freedom it is to know that the Father does not see my threadbare patience or insufficient trust, rather only Your patience, Lord, and Your confidence that the Father has everything in hand. In Your faith I thank You right now for a more glorious answer to my prayer than I can imagine. Amen. ...Catherine Marshall image

Pass It On...

Scrolling around...September 16, 2013

'Biblical' Floods Leave Thousands Homeless
Some of the worst flooding in Colorado history has claimed the lives of at least six people, left hundreds unaccounted for and thousands homeless, causing the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team to deploy to the Rocky Mountains.

With rains falling through the weekend and most areas suffering from a sudden surge caused by 15 inches of rain, mudslides have complicated an enormous disaster area from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.

“It’s the worst that anyone has ever seen,” says Al New, Rapid Response Team manager of deployments and operations. “They’re calling it their 100-year flood.”...

By the numbers, here's some analysis of what we know about Colorado's floods, along with what we don't...

Too Bad ObamaCare Works as Intended
Year after year, Forbes magazine places Wegmans Food Markets high on its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, usually in the top five in the country. The supermarkets are based in Rochester, New York, a region that has been hit hard by economic stagnation, with downsizing at several companies (like Xerox and Kodak) that were once the biggest employers in the region. Wegmans has been a refuge for many employees, drawn to its generous salaries, bonuses, and benefits package. Last year Forbes cited its low turnover rate (3.4 percent last year) as a factor in why the supermarkets are such popular places to work. Despite the critical role that the supermarket chain plays in the local economy, Wegmans became a less coveted place to work this summer when it was announced that some part-time workers’ health benefits would be cut thanks to ObamaCare, and earlier this week it was announced that Trader Joe’s would do the same....

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were given the painting, worth £2,000, by Tazia Fawley, who lives in Somerset...

For Firefighters, Solar Panels Are A New Type Of Trouble
...Panels and wiring stay energized even when panel breakers are open, Reuters notes, so a panel poses a risk even when a circuit is ostensibly turned off. And if firefighters need to make holes in the roof, panels can impede fire crews in fighting a fire...

The Office of Appeals handled more than 72,000 cases during the audit period, which ran Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012.

“When the sample results are projected to the population, we estimate that the deviations may have negatively affected 8,277 taxpayers,” auditors wrote.

Of a greater concern to the auditors was the possibility the IRS could be vulnerable to lawsuits from taxpayers who try to recover monetary damages from the agency if they believe its personnel are intentionally disregarding the rules.

During the same time, the Treasury Inspector General closed 13 direct contact complaints involving IRS personnel, but only two employees were disciplined or counseled by IRS management officials for their actions, according to the audit report...

Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Rate
...This year, 42 clinics that provided surgical abortions have shut their doors, and two that offered chemical abortions by drugs also have closed, according to Operation Rescue, which monitors closings and health and safety violations by clinics nationwide. That number far surpasses the 25 surgical clinics shutdown last year and the 30 in 2011, by Operation Rescue's count. While others estimate a smaller number of closings, the pattern is clear.

Some of the shutdowns have been of major clinics. For instance, Virginia's No. 1 abortion provider closed, The Washington Post reported in July. NOVA Women's Healthcare in Fairfax, Va., shut down after state and local governments enacted regulations the abortion provider appeared unable to meet. The northern Virginia clinic performed 3,066 abortions in 2012 and 3,567 in 2011...

According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), Emad Damian, 50, and his cousin Medhat Damian, 37, from the village of Sahel Selim in Assuit Province, were contacted two days before their murder by the leader of a Muslim gang.

He was identified by Watany Coptic Newspaper as Ashraf Ahmed Mohammed Khalajah, a registered criminal from the village...